Cops: Bible Saves Boy From Mom's Gunshot

A Bible carried by a Florida teenager may have saved his life after his mother allegedly fired a shotgun blast at him.

Police say Leslie Ann Wallace, 39, confronted her 16-year-old son Kenneth outside his church Sunday morning and opened fire with a 16-gauge shotgun.

His leather-bound Bible absorbed most of the blast as he stood on the sidewalk outside the church, apparently saving his life.

Police: Woman Methodically Attacked Sons

Wallace had already allegedly killed her youngest son, 6-year-old James, at the family's Fort Myers, Fla., home, as the boy watched TV in the family room, police said. She then drove to the church where she allegedly confronted 16-year-old Kenneth, and then unsuccessfully pursued her 19-year-old son, Gregory.

The woman, a Marine Corps veteran, was being treated with antidepressants.

"We do know this morning that there is some mental health issue here," Shoap said.

After shooting Kenneth, Wallace drove to the Pizza Hut where her son Gregory worked, and attempted to coax him outside, police said. Police had already warned him to hide, however.

‘I Am His Mother and I Shot Him’

Wallace then made a 911 call, calmly telling authorities what she'd done.

"I just shot a 6-year-old boy at 1461 Maranatha Drive, North Fort Myers. He's probably dead by now," she told the 911 operator, according to a transcript released by police.

"I am his mother and I shot him."

She continued to describe the scene and said she had pursued her other children as well.

"I just regret that I missed my 16-year-old," she said. "I left because I went to go and try to shoot my 16-year-old, but he got away."

In the call, she said she had attacked her children because her family had moved in with her mother-in-law, who had complained about the youths.

When deputies arrived on the scene, she got back in her car and fled, police said. At the Caloosahatchee Bridge she stopped, got out of the car and fired once at the deputies chasing her, according to police and witnesses.

Deputies returned fire, wounding the woman five times, and she was taken to Lee Memorial Hospital. This morning, police said they had not charged her.